Incinerators



Feb. 10, 1959 S. BABCOCK INCINERATORS '7 Sheets-Sheet II Filed April 8,1957 ATTORNEYS S. BABCOCK Feb. 10, 1959 INCINERA'IORS- 7 Sheets-Sheet 4Filed April 8, 1957 92 IN V EN TOR.

I SAMUE L BABCOCK wag Qmz? ATTORNEYS Feb. 10, 1959 s. BABCOCK 2,873,101

INCINERATORS Filed April 8, 1957 '1 Sheets-Sheet s F 1!] j INVEN TOR.

SAMUEL BABCOCK BY Q 3km:

ATTORNEYS s. BABCOCK INCINERATORS Feb. 10, 1959 '7 Sheets-Sheet 6 FiledApril 8, 1957 IN VEN TOR.

SAMUEL BABCOCK MWQQW ATTORNEYS Feb. 10, 1959 s. BABcocK 2,873,101

' INCINERATORS Filed April 8, 1957 7 Shets-Sheet 7 INVENTOR.

SAMUEL BABCOCK ATTORNEYS United States Patent/'0 INCINERATORS SamuelBahcock, Detroit, Mich.

Application April 8, 1957, Serial No. 651,311

6 Claims. (Cl. 263-2) This invention relates to incinerators, and moreparticularly to an incinerator useful for burning automobiles and otherlarge size similar objects and particularly adapted for removing thedirt and soot from the smoke resulting from combustion.

When automobiles and similar types ofobjects are being wrecked forsalvage, it is a common practice to burn these objects in order toremove all grease, paint, fabric and other combustible materials so asto leave the metal bare of all combustible material. This metal is thensalvaged for use as scrap to be returned to the steel and ironmanufacturers for remelting.

Where automobiles and the like are burned, one of the major problemsinvolved is that of preventing the dirt, soot, and other small particlesfrom being blown away with the smoke of combustion to pollute theatmosphere.

Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide an incineratorsuitable for use in burning automobiles and the like but wherein thesmoke of combustion is cleaned before release to the atmosphere to avoidpollution of the air.

A further object of this invention is to form an incinerator of largesize for the combustion of automobiles and similar types of structures,but at the same time, to form the structure out of inexpensive metalplate material rather than fire brick, which is expensive to install andexpensive to maintain in operating condition.

Still another object of this invention is to form an incinerator whichcan be continuously operated by means of providing a carriage forcarrying the automobiles or the like on one end thereof into theincinerator with the opposite end of the carriage remaining outside ofthe incinerator for loading, and thereafter the carriage can be movedthrough the incinerator to position theloaded objects therein and toremove those objects which have already been burned. I Still a furtherobject of this invention is to form an inexpensive, extremely large sizeincinerator out of inexpensive structural material and inexpensive thin,metal plate walls and at the same time to constantly cool these walls toprevent them from buckling or bending due to the heat involved.

These and other objects of this invention will becom apparent uponreading the following specification of which the attached drawings forma part.

vWith reference to the drawings, Fig.1 shows a top planschematic view ofthe complete incinerator.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of one side of the incinerator taken in thedirection of arrows 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional plan viewtaken in the di rection of arrows 3 -3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an end view taken in the direction of arrow 4 of Fig. 2. i

Fig. 5 is a crosssectional view of the combustion chamber as if in thedirection of arrows 5-5 of Fig. 2. Figs. 6 and? are crosssect ionalviews of. the washing chamber taken in the direction of arrows 6-6 and7-7 respectively of Fig. 2.

Fig. 8 is an elevational cross-sectional view showing both thecombustion chamber and the washing chamber and taken in the direction ofarrows 88 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the structure taken in thedirection of 9-9 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary view. showing the door in a vertical endposition taken in the direction of arrows Ill-10 of Fig. 9.v

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of the carriage, per se.

Fig. 12 shows the carriage schematically with the means for moving thecarriage likewise shown schematically.

Fig. l3 is a small scale perspective view of the incineratori Fig. 14 isa view of the door and water troughs taken in the directionof arrows14-14 of Fig. 3.

The incinerator of this invention is generally of the appearance of alarge box-like structure as illustrated, for example, in Fig. 13. By wayof example, one model of this device is dimensionally somewhere in theorder of 30 feet high, 50 feet wide, and 30 feet deep. Obviously, thedimensions are by no means critical and may vary considerably, but itcan be seen, that this boxlike structure is quite large for reasons tobe described later.

The structure 20 is formed with side walls 21 and 22, end walls 23 and24, a flat ceiling or roof 25 and a floor 26. The walls, ceiling andfloor, are formed of flat metal plates welded or bolted together andrigidified by structural members 27, which as can be seen in Fig. 2, aresecured to the plates on the outside of the box. The structural membersmay be in the form of T beams or I beams or any similar structural formsuitable for an object of this size.

To brace the roof, trusses 28 (Fig. 4) are provided at spaced intervalsalong the roof and are interconnected by a beam 29 (Fig. 2). The trussesare above the roof v and are exposed for free air circulation so thatthey are constantly cooled.

The box itself is preferably raised off the ground by blocks or beams 30(Fig. 4) to form an air space between the floor and the ground. Thisspace permits the continuous circulation of air to thereby constantlycool the floor.

As illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, and 8, the incinerator is divided by apartition wall into two chambers: a combustion chamber 36 and a washingchamber 37. The partition wall 35 extends from the floor towards theceiling, but its top end 38 is arranged a few feet beneath the ceiling25 to provide a space 40 between the top of the partition and theceiling 25. A door 41 (see Fig. ,5) is formed in the partition toprovide access into the washing chamber from the combustion chamber 36.

The combustion chamber 36 is provided with aligned large doorways 42 and43 (shown in Pig. 3). These doorway openings are covered by verticallysliding doors 44 which slide in tracks 45 (Figs. 2 and 9). These doorsmay be independently raised or lowered, to completely or partially coverthe' doorway openings, by means of an outside winch arrangement 46 (Fig.2), including a pulley. and motor having a connecting cable 47 connectedto the top of each door at. 48. Any conventional controls may be used tooperate'the winches so as to raise and lower the doors when desired.

In order to move the objects to be burned into and out of the combustionchamber, a carriage 50 (Fig. l) isprovided. This carriage (Fig. 11) maybe formed of spaced elongated metal beams 51 joined together at spacedpoints bycross-bars 52. Upwardly extending bars 52a may be provided toact as cradles for the objects to be burned.

The carriage is at least twice as long as the depth of the combustionchamber so that when approximately one half of the carriage iswithin thecombustion chamber, the other one half is out in the. open (Fig. 1).Thus, in operation of this carriage, objects 53, to be burned, in dottedlines representing automobiles in Fig. l, are placed on the carriage atone end and then slid through the open doors into the combustionchamber. The opposite end of the carriage remains outside and additionalautomobil'es 53 may then be mounted on this end. When the automobilesinside the combustion chambers have been fully burned, the carriage ismoved through the aligned doorways so that the burned cars come out oneend and the cars to be burned enter the chamber. At this point, theburned cars are unloaded and additional cars to be burned are thenloaded in their place. Thus, a slide action is obtained where loadingand unloading takes place at both opposite doors of the combustionchamber to give a quick loading and unloading and a continuousoperation.

The cross beam construction of the carriage permits the burned debrisabout 800 lbs. per automobile, to fall through the carriage to the floor26. it is scraped off the fioor and out of the incinerator into pits ofthe loading docks outside the doors by the reciprocation of thecarriage, which carries a scraper blade 54 on its lower surface for thispurpose.

In. order to burn the automobiles or other objects to be consumed withinthe combustion chamber, these objectsmay be soaked with gasoline orother inflammable material and set on fire within the combustionchamber.

While the object is burning, particularly where the object is coveredwith paint and grease and the like, dense, black, sooty, dirty smoke isemitted. Such smoke quickly pollutes the atmosphere, and in fact, thereare ordinances in many areas which prohibit the discharge of such smokeinto the atmosphere.

In this incinerator, the smoke rises and passes over the top 38 of thebattle plate or partition 35 through the space 40 and then into thewashing chamber 37. This is illustrated by the arrows 57 in Fig. 8. Thesmoke in the washing chamber then is carried through an exhaust pipe 58and out through the exhaust smoke stack 59.

The washing chamber is provided with water pipes 65 extending around theperimeter thereof near the ceiling and also cross pipes 66, wherenecessary. These pipes are provided with a large number of nozzlesspaced as close to each other as necessary. Water is discharged throughthese nozzles in the form of a spray to float down through the washingchamber to the floor thereof. The floor in this case is provided with atrough shaped basin 68 with the V shaped part of the trough 69 beingangled relative to the horizontal towards a discharge tube 70 (Fig. 8).Thus, the washing chamber is completely saturated with water which poursdown from the ceiling in a spray which Washes the smoke to remove allthe various dirt and soot particles. The smoke which then exits throughthe pipe 58 and then through the smoke stack 59 is quite clean and isfree of all the particles which would otherwise pollute the air.

Where necessary to provide a better draft for the smoke stack, a smallheater, such as an oil heater 59a (Fig. 2) may be positioned in the baseof the smoke stack 59.

In view of the fact that the walls of the combustion chamber areof thinmetal plate, it can be seen that this plate is highly susceptible todamage because of heat. For example, the plate walls and ceilings andfloors would easily buckle under the heat of combustion,unlessprotective stepswere taken. Obviously, the chamber could be linedwith fire brick or the like, but this is quite expensive and it is anobject. of. this invention, to. avoid the. use. of' fire brick. Thus,the combustion. chamber is provided with pipes (Figs. 3, 8) arrangedaround the perimeter thereof near the ceiling and formed with nozzlesfor pouring water directly on the walls and to cause the water toconstantly bathe the walls from the ceiling to the floor. Wherenecessary, additional perimeter pipes 75a may also be provided againstthe walls. The water as it reaches the floor is caught in troughs 77which are arranged around the entire perimeter of the combustion chamberand which are angled relative to the horizontal so as to collect thewater at one discharge drain port 78. In this case, the sliding doorsare likewise provided with trough portions 79 so as to form acontinuation of the troughs which extend around the wall perimeters whenthe door is. aligned or substantially aligned with the troughs. Sincethe doors are used as dampers for adjusting the amount of air enteringinto the combustion chamber, the door and wall troughs would notnormally align perfectly, but would be vertically offset somewhat (Fig.14). However, the troughs may be made to overlap so that thus, waterpours a short distance from one wall trough into the door trough andthen back into the wall'trough to thereby provide a continuous flow ofwater and prevent the water from flowing to the ground outside of thecombustion chamber.

In addition to the water spray on the walls of the combustion chamber,nozzles 83 which are hung from a pipe 84 andconnected to the watersupply perimeter lines 75 or 75a are arranged to provide a water fogabove the object to be burned (Fig. 8) to thereby prevent the heat fromthe burning objects from rising to scorch or damage the ceiling of thecombustion chamber. The fog is sufficient to prevent overheating of theceiling but is not sufficient to put out the fire on the objects beingburned.

In operation, the automobile or other object 53 to be burned is placedupon one end of the carriage 50. In Fig.1, two automobiles are placedside by side. Then that end of the carriage is pushed into thecombustion chamber. The carriage itself rides upon rollers arranged atthe doorways and rollers 91 arranged on top of. loading docks. 92aligned with the openings in the combustion chamber. The carriage may bemoved by means of a winch 95' (Fig. 12) operating a cable 96 woundaround stationary pulleys 97-98 under the floor and' connected at itsends to the ends of the carriage at 99'-100. Thus, the winch, which maybe operated by a reversible electric motor or the like, by winding orunwinding the cable moves the carriage back and forth into thecombustion chamber and out the other side again. This is shownschematically in Fig. 12.

Thereafter, the doors are closed and the object is burned within thecombustion chamber. During the burning, additional automobiles may beloaded upon the end of the carriage which is outside of the combustionchamher. The water during this time flows within the combustion chamberto completely bathe the walls of the chamber and keep the walls cool andlikewise, the water fog above the automobiles being burned prevents theceiling from. being over heated.

The smoke rises through the water fog and over the top of the partition35 and into the washing chamber where water constantly flowing down in aspray from the ceiling washes the dirt particles and the like out of thesmoke intothe catch trough 68 and then out through the V part 69 of'thetrough to the drain 70. The smoke which is cleaned, then passes throughthe exhaust tube 58' and out the smoke stack 59.

In order to supply water continuously for the combustion chamber wallsand for the spray in the cleaning room, a pit (Fig. 1) is providedoutside of the incinerator and water from the washing chamber passesintothepit throughthc drain pipe 106 connected with the drain 70therein. Likewise, water passes from combustion, Chambercollectiondrainpipe 78 into the pit. A pump 1.07m. the pit then: picksup: the water fromthepit afterfilterin zthe water: by means: of afilter(not shown) and pumps the water back through pipes 108 into the watertubing 65 and 66 within the washing chamber for recirculation and alsointo the water piping 75 and 75a inside the combustion chamber forrepassage over the walls of the combustion chamber.

This invention may be further developed within the scope of thefollowing attached claims. Accordingly, it is desired that the foregoingdescription be read as being merely illustrative of one operativeembodiment of this invention and not in a strictly limiting sense.

I now claim:

1. An incinerator for burning old automobile bodies comprising a largebox having side walls, end walls and a ceiling, and divided verticallyby a substantially imperiorate bafile plate or partition parallel to theend walls to provide a combustion chamber adapted to contain automobilebodies to be burned and a smoke washing chamher, with the partitionhaving its upper edge a short distance below the ceiling to provide anupper passage between the upper edge of the baffle plate and the ceilingfor smoke to pass from the combustion chamber into' the washing chamberonly through said upper passage, the box height and length dimensionsbeing at least several times the height and length of the automobilebodies being burned, and the depth dimension being at least larger thanthe maximum dimension of the bodies being burned, said box being madesolely of large area thin metal plates joined edge to edge to form theside Walls, the end walls and the ceiling, the walls forming the boxbeing secured to a structural frame which rigidifies and supports thebox and which comprises frame members arranged outside of the box so asto be exposed to atmosphere, and including side wall frame members, endWall frame members and ceiling frame members, all outside the box walls,the box having in its side walls alined openings large enough to permitone or more automobile bodies to be entered horizontally through theseopenings in the side walls, these openings being located in thecombustion chamber part of the box a considerable distance from thewashing chamber, water spray means in the upper part of the combustionchamber and the washing in the end wall of the washing chamber and anexhau'st stack outside the box and supported independently of the boxand connected at its lower end to the exhaust opening of the washingchamber which is also near the lower edge of the washing chamber endwall.

2. A construction as defined in claim 1 wherein the ceiling frame is aroof truss arranged above the ceiling and on the outside of the box.

3. A construction as in claim 1 wherein the alined doorways in the sidewalls are covered by vertically movable sliding doors.

4. A construction as defined in claim 1 wherein the floor of the box ismounted on pedestals above the ground to provide an air space betweenthe ground and the floor for cooling the floor.

5. A construction as in claim 1 having a water collecting trough and adrain therefor.

6. A construction as in claim 1 having a loading and unloading carriagewhose length is twice the depth of the box and whose width is nearlythat of the side wall openings and which is mounted to reciprocatethrough these openings whereby one body may be loaded or unloaded whileanother is being burned.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS640,796 Neuhs Jan. 9, 1900 664,980 Thackeray Jan. 1, 1901 1,202,886Phelps Oct. 31, 1916 1,821,049 Ames Sept. 1, 1931 2,030,114 Mann Feb.11, 1936 2,214,880 Crawford Sept. 17, 1940 2,702,013 Atteberry Feb. 15,1955

